More Articles

The backup power system for much of Mount Carmel East’s hospital campus failed to kick on during
a power outage yesterday morning, but a hospital spokesman said patients were unharmed.

Twelve patients on ventilators in the hospital’s intensive-care unit were moved to the hospital’s
east pavilion, which, like the hospital’s heart center, relied on a different source of backup
power that worked properly, said hospital spokesman Jason Koma.

Two of those patients were subsequently transferred to Mount Carmel St. Ann’s.

Patients also were diverted from the hospital’s emergency department to other hospitals, Koma
said.

A malfunctioning control board was the culprit, he said.

“We have fixed the problem with that control board and are doing an overall root-cause analysis
to make sure nothing like this ever happens again,” Koma said.

He said the backup power system that failed had undergone a routine monthly check on Friday and
worked fine at that time.

Mount Carmel officials would not say how many patients were in the main hospital building and
the south tower, both of which were without power when the backup system malfunctioned. Alternative
lighting was brought to those parts of the hospital, and patients were checked more frequently,
Koma said.

Extra staff members also were called in to work.

The power outage, which began at 2:16 a.m., stemmed from a problem with a transformer in an
American Electric Power substation on E. Broad Street, immediately east of the hospital.

Power to the hospital was restored at 5:49 a.m., and power to remaining customers came back on
shortly before 8 a.m., said AEP spokeswoman Terri Flora.

After power was restored, the hospital regained its ability to use its entire backup power
system, and did so for a few hours until officials were confident in the repairs, Koma said.

About 8,700 residential and business customers were affected, Flora said. AEP was still
investigating the cause yesterday afternoon.